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Xena journeys to the Temple of the Fates to pray for her deceased brother, Lyceus. When the temple is attacked, she and Gabrielle defend it successfully, though Xena is distraught by having killed a young boy. Xena re-enters the temple only to encounter the Three Faces of Fate themselves: "The Maiden", "The Mother", and "The Crone".

Her reward for defending the temple is to be granted a wish. Her statements of "I want that boy's life back" and "I wish I'd never followed the sword in the first place" ultimately leads to the Fates transforming her back to a time before Lyceus was killed and Xena became a warrior. The one stipulation she is given is that she must never shed a drop of blood in anger, or all will be undone and fate restored to the path it was.

The first person Xena (now wearing a dress and looking far from a warrior) sees is her brother Lyceus strolling towards her from the woods. All is as it was. The village echoes with the song of the women in the fields. People walk by and say "hello". Merchants display their wares in the streets. It is "as if Xena; Warrior Princess never existed". But not all is well.

Unfortunately, as a result of her past having been changed, her mother is dead, and Gabrielle is living a far worse life as a slave girl to the domineering slave trader, Mezentius, who we first met in The Path Not Taken. Mezentius works in partnership with Krykus, the arms dealer introduced in Hooves and Harlots. Having never known Xena, the Centaurs and the Amazons also no longer exist as a free people. With the bad, all the good was undone as well.

Xena must weigh her own desires to be the woman she could have been against many issues, including a life of near passiveness with a friend who has changed into a beaten and bitter slave (Gabrielle). In the end, swamped in the middle of battling bad guys and trying her best not to draw blood, she sees Gabrielle viciously kill Mezentius. Lyceus turns to Xena and says "Don't fight destiny." This seems to be the deciding factor for her, as Xena grabs a sword and skewers a bad guy.

Fate returns to its original course, and Gabrielle shouts to Xena that someone's behind her. This time, Xena doesn't just stick a sword in the boy solider; she throws him down, giving him a second chance at life.

In the opening scene Xena and Gabrielle are traveling across the country side on route to the temple so Xena can pay honor to to dead brother. Something that she does on a yearly basis. Gabrielle is dressed in a long brown shirt with a blue blouse. This is the outfit that Gabrielle wore in the original episodes. Upon arrival at the temple Gabrielle is dressed in her second season warrior outfit.